The future belongs to organizations with active knowledge-creating, agile individuals and cultures. Research has shown that such cultures emerge when people are developing their skills and capabilities, and that the greatest catalyst for human development is the maturity level of the institutions of which they are part. At the same time, history has demonstrated that, to become such an organization, leaders need to first undergo their own personal transformation and embrace the ambiguity and uncertainty of the current and foreseeable business environment. They then need to support similar transformation across other levels of the organization. This book offers both the theory and methodology needed to implement such development, along with case studies that highlight key steps in the process. Drawing on the theoretical and methodological work of Peter Senge, Michael Ray, Willis Harman, Michael Polanyi, Scott Peck, and others, it outlines a process for developing and maintaining an organization in which the development of people leads to enhanced profitability.

The contributors reflect the field of organizational development's rapid growth and success since its inception 50 years ago into a far more complex study than it was just a few decades ago. They show how organizational development has expanded from dealing with internal problems to the need to address more strategic issues.

Learning Organizations delves into why learning is an essential business operation; how modern learning is different from industrial-era training; how to discover learning sources and opportunities; how to design a learning environment and learning strategies that optimize the potential of every employee.

In a world of organizations that are in constant change scholars have long sought to understand and explain how they change. This book introduces research methods that are specifically designed to support the development and evaluation of organizational process theories. The authors are a group of highly regarded experts who have been doing collaborative research on change and development for many years.

This book brings new perspectives to classic issues in the field such as organizational complexity, change leadership, emotional intelligence and interorganizational change.

Psychology is of interest to academics from many fields, as well as to the thousands of academic and clinical psychologists and general public who can't help but be interested in learning more about why humans think and behave as they do. This award-winning twelve-volume reference covers every aspect of the ever-fascinating discipline of psychology and represents the most current knowledge in the field. This ten-year revision now covers discoveries based in neuroscience, clinical psychology's new interest in evidence-based practice and mindfulness, and new findings in social, developmental, and forensic psychology.

The concept of the 'learning organization' is one of the most popular management ideas of the last few decades. Since it was conceived as an idea in its own right, it has been given various definitions and meanings, such that we are still faced with the question as to whether any unified understanding of what the learning organization really is can be established. This Handbook offers extensive reviews of both new and traditional perspectives on the concept and provides suggestions for how the learning organization can best be defined, practiced, studied, and developed in future research. With contributions from long-standing scholars in the field as well as those new to the area, this book aims to bridge the gap between traditional and more critical perspectives, and in doing so find alternative features and angles to take the idea forward. In addition to elaborating on and developing older definitions of the learning organization and suggesting updated and even new definitions, the chapters also provide focused explorations on pertinent aspects of the learning organization such as ambidexterity, gender inclusivity, and systems thinking. They also survey organizations that have made efforts towards becoming learning organizations, how the learning organization can best be measured and studied, and the universality of the idea itself. Some of the questions raised in this book are answered, or at least given tentative answers, while other questions are left open. In this way, the book has the ambition to take the learning organization an important step further, whilst having no intentions to take any final step; instead, the intention is that others will endeavour to continue where this book stops.

The book contains a unique and refreshingly new perspective on education, training and development (ETD) practices in the 21st century workplace context. It moves away from merely revamping known and traditional principles of ETD to providing the reader and student with practical tools and new perspectives on the changing and broadening role of the ETD practitioner in the workplace. It contains new and transformative models, practical applications and guidelines for students and readers on the South African outcomes-based approach to ETD, the profession and practice of ETD, including quality assurance aspects.

It is a great pleasure to share with you the Springer LNCS proceedings of the Second World Summit on the Knowledge Society, WSKS 2009, organized by the Open - search Society, Ngo, http://www.open-knowledge-society.org, and held in Samaria Hotel, in the beautiful city of Chania in Crete, Greece, September 16–18, 2009. The 2nd World Summit on the Knowledge Society (WSKS 2009) was an inter- tional scientific event devoted to promoting dialogue on the main aspects of the knowledge society towards a better world for all. The multidimensional economic and social crisis of the last couple of years has brought to the fore the need to discuss in depth new policies and strategies for a human centric developmental processes in the global context. This annual summit brings together key stakeholders involved in the worldwide development of the knowledge society, from academia, industry, and government, including policy makers and active citizens, to look at the impact and prospects of - formation technology, and the knowledge-based era it is creating, on key facets of l- ing, working, learning, innovating, and collaborating in today’s hyper-complex world. The summit provides a distinct, unique forum for cross-disciplinary fertilization of research, favoring the dissemination of research on new scientific ideas relevant to - ternational research agendas such as the EU (FP7), OECD, or UNESCO. We focus on the key aspects of a new sustainable deal for a bold response to the multidimensional crisis of our times.

Constant change is a given for most companies today. What differs is the scale, and the ability of people and organizations to deal with change in a positive, learning environment. Training must adapt too, to respond to the different learning styles of a new generation whose learning needs are the result of working in delayered, leaner, empowered organizations. Griffiths and Williams look at the implications for training and development, drawing on their first-hand experience of being with IBM during an extensive reengineering programme. With the aid of checklists, questions, summaries, 'food for thought' and numerous real-life examples, they show how to improve corporate performance through organized learning. The book underlines the vital importance of linking learning with business needs and evaluating it like any other investment.